Elizabeth Nourse, A Woman for the Ages

Born on the 26th of October, 1859 in southern Ohio, Elizabeth Nourse was an American portrait and landscape painter. Nourse was highly regarded in her day for her social realism and as a role model for female artists, and her extensive art education encompasses schools such as Art Students League of New York and Académie Julian. This is reflected in her work which has strong Classical sensibilities while exploring the feminine 19th century New Woman with incisive genre and portraiture that rivaled many of her contemporaries.


In La mere above, Nourse uses complementary colors to reinforce the bond between mother and child while balancing this with a blue that echoes the influence of Renaissance religious themes. The way the mother is posed here is so brilliant in that she is both strong and tender at the same time, and the way the drapery hangs in her lap brings to mind Leonardo. The way Nourse foreshortens the baby is unusual and interesting in its realism, showing us in this angle the worn shoes, socks and natural expression of a sleeping child. This is a simple peasant woman cradling her baby, yet here, beautifully composed and noble in her heart, Nourse takes social realism to a poetry that Leonardo would have deeply approved of.






Woman with a Harp, 1887

This is more of an Academic study, yet Nourse uses a clever monotone palette of whites, greys, greens and yellows that are repeated in both the drapery and in the flesh of the woman, yet both are uniquely distinct. The overall impression seems to be a modern take on a Hellenistic theme, with a woman's back as the subject instead of a flawless face while the body language is still confident and strong. This very well could be Terpsichore, but the social realism is compelling here in observing the genereal stance, strengths and burdens of women. This would be an interesting painting to see up close in person.







Etude, 1892

I love these kind of compositions of closely arranged figures...the intimacy of these two figures is immediate and forms a relationship between them before we even begin to wonder who they are. This subject was explored fully by French painter Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret.Nourse uses a strong earth palette of warm browns and reds, but look at the way she paints the traditional Breton hats of these women. Soft tints of purple in the sides of the hats, barely noticeable until closer inspection yet beautiful once noticed. We can clearly see two different generations here, and the way the older woman lowers her head while the younger looks forward confidently...Nourse knows exactly what she is doing. This is a painter who narrates without grand themes but with subtle body language.






The First Communion, 1895

Here Nourse pays tribute to a very Catholic tradition, and yet the way she paints the expressions on these young girl's faces is all too telling on the role of religion as more obligatory than practiced, especially at young ages. Nourse skillfully blends those purple tones into the shadows of these white dresses, with hints of blue and green in the midtones, while the sister is completely black. Note the unusual tones against the wall behind them. The narrative powers that Nourse uses here are very subtle yet so inspiring and worth noticing. This is the work of a very sharp woman, decades ahead of her time and before the clever advertising of the 20th century that would mimic these sorts of themes to sell everything from soap to magazine covers.





The sewing lesson, 1895


Brilliant. A sensitive interpretation of a necessary skill taught to a child by her mother under an unusual yet compelling light from the window. Green is the dominant color here but the quiet mood Nourse creates here is truly captivating. It is interesting that the brushwork here is much rougher than her other works, almost suggesting this is more of a study or sketch for a more finished theme that never got painted. Regardless, the drama and mood here, using nothing more than light and body language once again, reveals Nourse's genius for simplicity.





Motherhood

Nourse takes a pure, unadulterated view of being a mother here in a theme that is still controversial to this very day. Everything you need to know is said here. The arrangement has the feeling of a photograph in its immediacy, but its sheer power is in the clothing of both mother and child and their faces as they look at each other. Nourse uses distinct brushwork here to emphasize the poverty of this mother and her child, sitting against an old, wooden door scumbled with umbers and greens. Timeless. Simple. And powerful.






Self-Portrait, 1892

Self-assured, direct and a beautiful young woman, Nourse stares back at us with her palette and stack of brushes in her right hand while painting with her left. And in complementary colors, no less.

Nourse is an icon of astute social realism and the human condition, largely forgotten today in the shadows of more popular female artists yet her ability to say so much with so little is what we need to remember of her great craft. She is a painter who enobled the common people in way that no formal portrait ever could, without resorting to drastic brushstrokes or colors, but in simplicity.